The Spark

How Strategic Marketing Sparked Big Growth at Emerald Built Environments

• Front Burner Marketing

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In this episode of The Spark, Kendra Morvillo sits down with Laura Steinbrink, CEO of Emerald Built Environments and President of Sustainability at Crete United. Together, they unpack the evolution of Emerald’s marketing journey—from DIY HubSpot struggles to a high-performing, content-driven strategy that helped double the company’s revenue twice and ultimately led to its acquisition.

Laura shares what it’s like to be a “dream client,” her love of big ideas (hello, 365 Days of Sustainability), and how staying hands-on in marketing helped build a standout brand in a complex field. We cover:

✅ Why brand and authenticity matter in niche industries
✅ Building trust and partnership between agency and client
✅ How content + HubSpot + consistency = search success
✅ Pivoting language to survive the anti-ESG wave
✅ Why investing in strategic marketing pays off—long term

If you’re a business owner wondering what great marketing collaboration looks like—or how content can truly drive growth—this episode is packed with insight and inspiration.

SPEAKER_02

Brand matters, search matters, authenticity matters. My guest today is proof. It's our second ever case story. Welcome to this park. All right, today I have my lovely guest, Laura Steinbrink, with me, the CEO of Emerald Built Environments and the president of sustainability at Crete United and a general awesome client and friend. And we're going to talk about your marketing and our work together. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01

Welcome. Yay. Glad to be here. Yay, glad to have you.

SPEAKER_02

So let's start at the beginning. Can you uh tell us about Emerald and what your business does and who you serve?

SPEAKER_01

We are sustainability consultants and we work at the intersection of business and building, helping organizations set and achieve their sustainability goals for both their organization and the buildings in which they occupy. It's all about making the future healthier for the people and the planet. That was beautifully done.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. That was exactly just such a beautiful statement. And you guys, um, but you actually you also deeply believe in all the work that you do, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, 100%. I mean, the company is a manifestation sort of of my mission-driven purpose in life that I see.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. So you came to us with a pretty strong brand vision when we first met. Um, but what challenges were you facing that made you consider hiring a marketing agency?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think when we first started working together, I had been trying to self-implement HubSpot, the tool that you all are experts in. And I was not necessarily achieving great results. And the team that I had around me was capable of developing content, but really not helping me sort of overcome the issues that I had with the platform. And I knew that if I was going to both leverage this tool that I had made a significant financial investment in and achieve the results I wanted, I needed somebody that could be a HubSpot expert.

SPEAKER_02

So it started with HubSpot, which is a very powerful tool. And we've been able to do a lot with it. Um were there any, so there's a HubSpot skills gap, were there any other gaps that you felt like you were hoping to fill with a marketing partnership?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think when we we first started with some work around HubSpot, but then as we got to know each other better and the conversations deepened, your team was able to help activate some of the broader visions that we had for what we could be or how we could help uh organizations achieve their results and really pushed us to reimagine both how we showed up in our online presence and then how we presented ourselves in doing so. Um, what what would you say ultimately made you choose us as your marketing partner? The people. It's all about relationships. And I had deep trust in your company's leadership and the team that I was working with didn't ever let me down. And so it made only sense to deepen the relationship and go, you know, steps farther with it.

SPEAKER_02

That is a beautiful segue into my next question, which I love. All right, so you're a total idea person. You love new things, you love to try things that we haven't done before, you're always pushing the envelope. How would you describe the working relationship, like our collaboration and communication?

SPEAKER_01

It's fun. I mean, we I sometimes, you know, it's we're serious and we have to have serious conversations. But what we're here to do is do new things and to try to push the envelope and explore. And so you when I get to work with you, I'm activating like that creative side of me, which I don't get to use all of the time. So for me, it's like, ooh, it's it's marketing time. I get to you spend time doing this as opposed to like looking at numbers or other things that matter too. Um but is it my answering your question?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, totally. Yeah, I I would completely agree. I think we have a lot of fun while also working very hard. And I think it's it's been awesome because you give us, you push us to try things that maybe even we hadn't thought of, and then we push you to try things you hadn't thought of. And we don't always agree, but we're also both willing to give it a shot and trust each other's input. Yes, which is it's one of my favorite working relationships.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, what are your favorite deliverables or projects that we've worked on together? We've had a lot of projects.

SPEAKER_01

We have had a lot of projects. Um, so I know one of the most important deliverables that we have done, which actually you guys brainstormed, came up with, and pretty much did a l all by yourself was that pillar page. And you weren't able to do it until a certain point in our relationship, which was after we had years and years of content development together. And then you guys saw the opportunity to leverage it. And I know it's creating results because our search is, you know, responding in the ways that it should because of that kind of an investment.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And we definitely got major traction from that. And it was, I think when we you already had a decent body of content. And one of the things, and actually, um skipping ahead a little bit in what I was gonna suggest we talk about, but um, we've always really put a big focus on your content being really expert and authentic, and we're not just churning out mass quantities of blogs or whatever. Like you're touching all of it. We have real like thought leadership in them. Um, and then we took those and we compiled them into like this master page, and we have seen a lot of results from it, which has been great. Um, do you think that our strategy to keep that really authentic and expert content has really proven out? It's hard.

SPEAKER_01

It makes it hard. There's no place that I go where somebody knows me and or knows Emerald and they don't comment on, oh, we see you online all the time, or you're so active, or how do you have time to do all of that, or what you put out is so great. I can't wait to see the next thing that you're releasing. I'm learning so much from you.

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome. Yep. It's like a lovely five-star review.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And and it's not just our articles either. Like we put it through the website, and you guys have such a great brand voice that we really strive to like cook into everything that we touch, literally everything.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I think we do a really good job with it in the teamwork of how we come up with the ideas, we talk about the outline, sort of the key concepts we write, and then we review and edit. And it's seamless. It just and it's so easy now. It didn't used to be as this easy, but yeah, you you work together long enough, you gotta figure each other out.

SPEAKER_02

I agree. We definitely have a rhythm built. And and our team works like a machine with you now.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But not one thing goes out without your blessing and involvement, which is awesome. We have so many clients that just don't have the time for it, but you really focus on making the time for it, which is so valuable, I think.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, I was I was gonna suggest some of my favorite uh work products with us were like Emerald Gives. Emerald Gives is an awesome initiative that you guys donate services um annually to one organization. Um, and then we kind of do the campaign to find them. We take submissions and then we put together a package where we share that, and then you guys go and do the work and then we celebrate the results of it. Um, I think that's been really a fun project.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I can remember even as we put, you know, came up with a logo for it. I mean, it it was our idea, we had done it already, but then you you made it a thing, right? And you put a logo to it and even selecting sort of the imagery that we were gonna use with that, and then the way we've actually leveraged that HubSpot tool as a resource to us in facilitating the applications and the follow-ups and the workflows and the everything is amazing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we do try and use all the parts, which is great. It actually wasn't it called something else when we started. It wasn't even normal gives. I think we branded it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, that I enjoyed that. That was one of my favorites. Yeah. Um how about 365 days of sustainability? Oh, wow. That was a hard one. Twice? Yeah. Whose idea was it to do it the second time? Definitely yours. It was definitely your idea. Daily posts, updates on projects, graphics, tagging, um, and then like the summary video at the end. But it did generate a lot of great content.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. 365 days of it, times in a row. I've I've promised my staff I will never do that again.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. We need just one person to do that all the time. It's a lot. It was a huge initiative. It was. But it was also good for you guys to look back on your projects and and track them. And then we shared that and brought those people in that you had worked with.

SPEAKER_01

Right. You know, interesting though, sort of fallout from that is in your your what do you call it, presence in your KPIs or whatever your performance um while you're posting every day. And then the next year or the next week, the numbers go down. And it's like, well, is that bad? Well, no, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Trying the daily cadence is hard. That was really hard. And that was, we were also posting all the other stuff too.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So our our regular posting schedule kept up. I also think the LinkedIn newsletter has been pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01

That has been really, I've enjoyed watching it sort of blossom and grow. And we're just using, I mean, are we allowed to say that? Like we're just using content we've already published. We just yeah, it's okay. But it's going in another channel where more people are seeing it.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. We just repackage it a little bit and and it's a new audience. Yep. I think that's been that's been one of the bigger successes in the last year, frankly, of ones that we've kind of put out.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

All right. So all of this work that we've done on your brand and your content led to a big thing that happened last year. Uh, and we both felt that we could trace it back to search and content and everything that we've been doing and our brand building. Can you tell us about it?

SPEAKER_01

Uh, sure. Well, Emerald is now a Crete United company. We were acquired by Crete United in August of last year. But I think the the key point in that is was the first phone call in November of 23 when they found us online and needed a sustainability consultant. And that is the beginning of it. And it's the testimony to the search and the work that we did that it was a that's what they were looking for, and there we were, and off went our relationship.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. That's it's such a it was it was such a big change for you, which is very exciting. Uh, but as you moved within the Crete umbrella, how did we adapt our marketing work and what we've been doing since we're now, you know, part of this bigger company?

SPEAKER_01

Well, we got to rebrand everything. We got to update our logo and our colors and our font and our PowerPoints and all of the things. All of all of the things a couple of times we we might have wanna change it again after we changed it once. Um yeah, so we've got to do all those. And we've been we've seen our content, like we've we've adjusted some of the topics that we talk about to more align with what our partners on the Cree platform do, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, contracting, as opposed to just straight up sustainability consulting.

SPEAKER_02

But yeah, it feels it feels like I was worried that it would dilute your brand, but we've been really able to build it underneath that and kind of adapt some of their things while also keeping your individuality, which I think is awesome.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

So from the time we started working together to your acquisition by Crete, what growth or transformation do you think that you experienced as a business overall?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I know that from a financial metric, we doubled twice from when we started together and then where we were last year. Good number. It's a good number. Um, we definitely saw a transformation in our inflow of opportunities coming straight from the website and searches, which goes to the work we did. And I also know that the way you helped us talk about what we did made us better in working with our clients because we, you know, we're constantly researching, thinking, stay staying ahead of what the trends are, the way um consultants are approaching this work. And then when we would go into the meetings with our clients, we have the information and the data to back it up because we just talked about it in in our blog, or yeah, just experienced it with a different client, and now we're more clear why that case study is an absolute must at the end of a new innovative project so that we can leverage it into the next relationship.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think I think that was one of the things that we tumbled around many times was trying to get your messaging right so that because you guys are really smart at what you do, but not everyone can understand why it helps them. And so we've had many, many conversations about it in different angles. And I think I think we've got a pretty solid set of messaging now.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and can we just talk about where we are in the world right now in July 2025 and the anti-ESG backlash and how the words have to change and and what words we're allowed to use today and what words we were not, you know, we used a year ago but weren't the first words that we use today. And so we've updated our messaging.

SPEAKER_02

We have. It's it's hard to work in sustainability and not be able to say sustainability sometimes. But I do think we've adapted and and it's still just as powerful and conveys your your service and your offering and the benefits of what you guys do. But I it has not been without its twists and turns.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I mean, to be sustainable is to survive and to live into the future, and that's what resilience means and risk mitigation and saving money so that you have resources in the future. It's all the same thing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, they all want it. Everybody wants it. Why wouldn't you want it? Right. We just have to package it a little differently sometimes. So, what do you think has changed about Emerald now that you're part of this larger larger organization?

SPEAKER_01

Well, we're not just in the in our own world, right? We're part of a a group, a network that's very strong and powerful and doing great things. And so it's to our benefit to adapt to that and to bring along the good of what now surrounds us and the what we're part of. So some of the way we're approaching our go-to-market strategies or who um we're able to serve is shifting because of our new relationships.

SPEAKER_02

It's kind of opening up a new subset of potential partners too, which is kind of fun.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_02

A very targeted market is is available. Um looking back on all the things we've done, and you talked about your favorites, but what marketing decisions or investments do you think had the biggest long-term payoff?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I working with you guys.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I'll take that.

SPEAKER_01

Um well, I mean, I am still thrilled with HubSpot. And it through the acquisition, you know, the there's another CRM we use too because that's what we do. And we still use HubSpot. Yeah. Because we get our data's there, the reporting, the way we're used to our workflows. Certain aspects of our platform are not available to us on the other side. Yeah. So we still double thread everything. Yeah. So that was definitely a transformational opportunity for the company to be well, the I mean, we got into HubSpot because of the EO relationship and the the thing that HubSpot, I don't know if they still do it, but used to do with startup companies. And so it was it was a great growth thing that sort of stepped us into the full relationship. But um, I mean, uh you what's the adage? You you have to spend money to make money. Yeah. And investing in marketing, we really sort of turned on the faucet as the world was going crazy with the COVID. And I mean, we for better or for worse, did not have a COVID experience or like backlash until a couple years later.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so we just poured money into our messaging and doing the things during that early 200 2000, 2020s, whatever it was.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you also had the ability to offer services that tied to it too, like the health and wellness of your people. Well health safety certification.

SPEAKER_01

That's right. Right.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So there was there was an easy in there for sure. What advice would you give to another business owner who's thinking about engaging with a marketing partner or an agency?

SPEAKER_01

Uh definitely to be clear on what your goals are. I think it's important to not expect the company to just do the work. Like you have to be part of the salute. Okay, so let me say, let me back that up. Have goals. First of all, have goals that are beyond just like, I want a marketing firm. Like, I want a marketing firm to help me do X. And then understand that you you need to be part of that. It's not, I've heard stories of other and know people who just like, oh, those are those people over there and they just do the things. It's like the magic happens when it's a true partnership between you and your team.

SPEAKER_02

I could not agree with that more. And like we meet, we meet weekly. We have a large team that works on your account because we have so many different things that we're we're doing with you guys, but um, we're always going back to the goals. We're trying to make sure that we're mapping to them because there are so many things we could be doing. We got to focus sometimes. Um and our and our communication, I think, really helps with that too. Like we have a very open line of communication, which is great.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. And we and we integrate tools, right? That you guys use these some tools, and so we're using yours and you're using ours, and we keep each other sort of in line, but our and you're you're very data-driven too, which uh drives how we work together as well, which has been great.

SPEAKER_02

It gives clarity. Clarity is kind. So, last question. Okay. Is there anything else you'd want potential clients of Emerald or Frontburner to know about the value of strategic marketing support?

SPEAKER_01

The value of strategic marketing support. Well, I I'm gonna just restate some of what we said, which I think is just important to go. It helps you it helps be better in the work that you do with your clients, right? When you understand what messages work and resonate, that helps you know do the things that that matter to your customers first. And then a strategic marketing partner, like a front burner, who does come to the table with ideas and challenge you, being open to new new ideas and we're trying new things with AI now, uh we need to. We need to stay ahead of it and be ahead of it and not sort of like wait and see, like being uh proactive and going try new things.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I think I think we both help in that aspect. We're both pushing a little bit. Well, thank you for coming today and talking to me. Thanks for having me. Uh if you are looking to talk about your brand, reach out. We'd love to help you talk about it too.

SPEAKER_00

Hey Kendra. Thanks for uh thanks for having me in today. Thanks for including me. No problem. Uh the cool thing is uh your guest, Laura. Um I have some notes here. Um let's let's discuss it because um this I all of a sudden I don't know if I can fill this seat because she is just incredible. Um here's and I don't I don't know Laura well, right? Um she's been around longer than I have. Um I think you just met her. I did just meet her for the first time. Um idea person, lots of fun. That definitely shows she believes in doing new things and being creative. Those are just is somebody in in this seat now, you know, working in marketing and creative past um to have a client like that. Tell me a little bit about how she's helped make you better and make Frontburner better.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, Laura's a dream client. She is always willing to try new things. She pushes new things, like she thinks of her own things, she comes to the table with ideas, pushes us out of our box, uh, will also hear whatever we suggest. She's willing to fund it, to try it. Um, she wants to be involved. Her voice is in everything that we do and her team's voice. We we collaborate with her whole team, but you know, she's generally the mouthpiece for the organization. Um, but nothing, nothing leaves without her involvement. And so, you know, we have a lot of clients that just don't have the time for that, and that's fine.

SPEAKER_00

That that totally works for some people, but um so so so they sorry, they they don't have the time or they don't make the time.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I'm not gonna speak ill of anybody. Okay. But let's say, let's say they don't have the time.

SPEAKER_00

Laura clearly um She doesn't have the time either. She doesn't have the time. That's my point. So yeah, I mean these relationships, and that's what they are. She alluded to that. So I'm not gonna just repeat everything she said, but I mean it it's very relationship-driven. And if you don't have time for your partner for your relationship, then it's not gonna grow. Um authenticity, we've talked about authenticity matters, super authentic. And you said her voice is through everything and she's hands-on.

SPEAKER_02

We started very early on saying we were never gonna just have random writers or AI writers write for them because she really wanted to have her stamp on it. And and it's it's an it's a niche what they do, and it's very expert and wants she wants to be very clear and accurate in what we talk about. Um, and so everything, the blogs take a lot longer than other blogs. We can't just churn them out quickly because it takes a lot of thought and expertise. Um, and she's got an amazingly smart team that are willing to, you know. know, commit to helping us develop that kind of content.

SPEAKER_00

Um when building that content and maybe it's a little painstaking, it takes longer. I think something that's great and this is um you know hot tip for anybody who's uh doing a heavy lift uh with their content is go ahead and repurpose it. And the fact that you know you you do the lift. So you do the thing, right? So you do the blog, whatever it is. Use it for your social.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Put it somewhere else. You make it into a landing page, web page, right? And now all of a sudden, you know, you have the one big lift but now you're getting eight touch points out of it. Yep. And I think that is um the fact that she recognizes the value in that. So her time and effort is going to go into the one big thing. But then she's seeing the results as it falls out on the other end is great.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah it's not it's not a one and done ever with her. We're always going back to our old content. Lindsay who you know leads our content efforts at the office is um a human library of everything that we've done with Emerald and she finds ways to weave it into everything we do and we cut it, repackage it, put it back together always leveraging what we've already really invested a lot of time in. So we've got a lot of legs out of it. And and the pillar page she talked about was a huge example of jump the shark.

SPEAKER_00

That's where I was going. So you built all this content for for years you built the content. Yeah. And she talked about the pillar page and getting great results and you're seeing right rankings. You're seeing people come to the site, enter the site through the pillar page tell me more about the pillar page.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah we took Lindsay mapped out a plan. The idea is like a 10x content that is linked throughout everything that you do and kind of a one size fits all um piece that you can find any answer that you need tied to a topic. And for hers, uh it's like sustainability consulting for the built environment and we built out a plan for her content, all the things that we needed to cover and frankly this started before AI. So we did this manually with our brains.

SPEAKER_00

With your brains and your hours and hours upon hours.

SPEAKER_02

And mapped out holes in the content. So you know we put out a whole plan mapped out the holes and then worked to fill them and then built this huge piece put it into a beautiful like printable book as well also a web page. So a big lift and it turned into multiple things yeah and then we and then we turn it back around and make it into smaller ones again. It was it was really and and the the results and search we got were insane. Like I actually had to start separating out our traffic because it was so distracting from what was happening on the rest of the site. It's a good problem to have I would say yeah it's a good problem.

SPEAKER_00

Which led to um her giving uh credit in the relationship to doubling her business twice. She did say that she did say that's lovely to hear um website leads good leads coming through the website um and just staying ahead of the curve in general the part of this that I like that stood out to me um is really the fact that she sees us as a partner. She sees you as somebody who's basically on her staff right and when when it's like that you're able to see parts of her business that she can't see blind spots. You're able to give her um suggestions uh of how to appeal better to her audiences by utilizing case stories by by um looking but just just by coming from your lens, right? It's gonna be different. Yeah she's super close to it.

SPEAKER_02

Well and they're like I was saying with her her team they're all experts in what they do and they know why they should be doing something but sometimes they don't see how someone on the outside might have a pain point that they haven't identified and that their services would solve for. And so we went, you know, we went and workshopped with their whole team and just asked them really fundamental questions about what they do to see what terms they used and how they answered. And then we kind of synthesize that into a clearer description of what they do that someone on the outside could understand.

SPEAKER_00

So you understand their vernacular you speak their language.

SPEAKER_02

Well we're getting close to it. Getting close to it.

SPEAKER_00

I know a lot more about lead certification than I ever thought I would fair um also the ability to stay nimble, be agile as the climate changes right literally changes. That's that's huge. And she definitely seemed to appreciate that. One thing that she did say and advice that she would give uh spend money to make money right so she understands that she needs to put money into her marketing budget and then be hands-on with it and not just think that they're just people that she's paying that are on the payroll. It's a true partnership um advice that she would give that I thought was great for um you know uh somebody possibly working with an agency for the first time was uh being clear on goals, goal setting KPIs straight out of the gate. And again, sorry I'm just gonna keep going back to your part of a partnership.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah we have a we have a we have a really great team we talk all the time we're actually we have like a chat instance just for her and our team so that we're always connected and we can toss each other questions really lightly we're not siloed at all if we need access to her team for more information or anything we we have it. It is it is an awesome working relationship and and she also pushes us to be better marketers because she also has these really big ideas. And you know when she got acquired by this other company that kind of could have changed everything about how she works but she really is just stayed so true to her brand and and her voice and but also we've gotten these other opportunities to start talking to a new audience which is always fun. Like we like to shift everything we've done and can't and package it for a new target persona.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Well that is definitely growth mindset. It's staying authentic um this is a great case story. I'm super excited that you brought it excuse me you brought it to our attention um definitely a shout out to Laura looking forward to continuing to grow together and thank you for making us better. With that like subscribe share you know where to find us spark a conversation thanks for watching